How do the details of Zenos’s allegory suggest that Joseph Smith was translating an ancient work?

Thomas R. Valletta

“Zenos’s mention of planting, … pruning, … grafting, … digging, … nourishing, … and dunging … as well as the fact that dunging occurs less frequently in the parable than the nourishing, all mark it as an authentic ancient work. … Joseph Smith could have known nothing about olives from personal experience. … Can it … be supposed that Joseph simply guessed right on so many details? And even if he somehow managed to get the details from classical authors, how did he know to put it into the proper Hebrew narrative form?” (Gee and Peterson, “Graft and Corruption,” 223–24).

The Book of Mormon Study Guide: Start to Finish

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